What comes after the final fade-out in dramas? Tae-eul had always wondered.
As the months turned to years, she began to understand.
It was the small things, Tae-eul realized; the tiny moments of daily life, which couldn't be captured in photos or words, but which tugged at her heart more than a thousand romantic cliffhangers.
Those tiny, fleeting moments were her favourite.
The butterflies she got when she walked down the aisle.
The look of awe on Gon's face when he first held their son.
The sight of Luna chasing Hyeon-min around the garden.
She didn't take a single day for granted.
But more importantly, Tae-eul continued to open doors. She never tired of bursting into her dad's house with bizarre souvenirs or surprising her old colleagues at the station. Her security detail soon learned to recognise the flash in her eyes that would end in a race to the bamboo forest, and with Yeong's encouragement, eventually joined Tae-eul on her trips.
She was the Queen of Corea, but her realm didn't stop at the horizon. If there were worlds out there in ruin, then surely there were places where cancer had been cured and people had figured out how to live in harmony with nature. It was only a matter of probability, science told her, and she felt as though she still had some luck left on her side.
With Gon's support and the resources of a kingdom at her disposal, she gathered together the brightest minds and began a search for answers that lay further afield.
She went on countless expeditions, but never stayed away for long.
Each night Tae-eul spent apart from Gon during her travels she would wake to the sound of a flute, as though the Manpasikjeok was crying for its other half.
Tae-eul was thankful for the music.
She couldn't unravel every mystery, but there was one thing she knew for certain; among all the riddles of the universe, there were some only two hearts could solve.